Pirates
by TheBlurredLine23
Summary: Cruise ships are meant to be relaxing, a way to help you de-stress and unwind. What could go wrong with games, massages, spas, fine dining, and...pirates? NOW COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1: A Forced Vacation

**A/N: Hello all! Told you I'd be uploading soon! XD**

**I co-wrote this story with a good friend of mine over email. It is also one of my first ventures into fan-fiction. That being said, the parts that I wrote may not be my best, considering that weeks went by in between emails and I wrote this about a year ago. Expect strange plot twists and awkward transitions. Heh heh.**

**Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy...**

**Pirates**

Characters (Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, etc.) © SEGA

**Chapter 1: A Forced Vacation**

Once upon a time, there were pirates. They stole, and they looted, and they stole, and looted and...well, you get the idea. Now let's fast-forward to the good part.

These pirates had been looting from Mobians for many years, so they naturally had a lot of treasure. So not only were they mean, they were rich. Duh. Now, they only looted for the pure pleasure of it. The police had tried to stop them, but the pirates vanished soon after they plundered an area. Nobody could really prove that they even existed, except for the generations' worth of stories that had sprung up around them. And now, this is where we begin...

But before this story can truly take off, a new character must fall into place. Sonic, having nothing whatsoever to do with pirates, lived a fairly standard life as your common, everyday blue hedgehog. (Which, when you really thought about it, wasn't very standard, or common, at all. His fur was _blue_**,** and he was, as he claimed, "the fastest thing alive".) When he wasn't kicking bad guys' butts or running around at supersonic speed, he spent his free time with his best friend Tails and second best friend Amy. He enjoyed being with both but sometimes they got a little annoying… especially Amy.

Our story begins on a beautiful blue morning and a seemingly wonderful day.

"Sonic…Sonic…wake up…I made you some breakfast…Sonic…Sonic!"

He jumped, falling out of the bed in the process. "AMY! Don't scare me like that!"

She laughed. "Come on, Sonic, lighten up! I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast."

Sonic grumbled a complaint but was soon downstairs at the table with Tails and Amy. She had made a large display of food: pancakes, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, everything. They sat down together and began eating.

"Amy, this is great!" Tails said. "What's it for?"

She smiled. "I have a surprise for both of you. We are going on vacation! We're going on a cruise!"

"WHAT!" Sonic exclaimed, beginning to choke on the food he had just stuffed into his mouth.

"What? Is something wrong?" Amy asked, looking confused.

"Uh, no, nothing's wrong..." Sonic said quickly, hastily covering his outburst.

"That's great, Amy. Ya know, I just realized I have a lot of things to do today! I'd better go now..." and he dashed away without even touching any more of Amy's feast.

Most people wouldn't have made anything out of it. Sonic the Hedgehog, to the average person, was always the happy-go-lucky, overconfident hero that he showed. But despite the smooth lie, Tails and Amy could see the slight desperation in his eyes and the lame excuse. They weren't the people he trusted most for nothing.

It wasn't that Sonic was busy so he couldn't go on the cruise; He _wouldn't_ go on the cruise because he was afraid of the water.

Tails gave Amy a look.

"That's right! I'm sorry! I totally forgot! I was so excited that we all had some off time that I thought that it would be a good idea to do something relaxing for once..." It wasn't just Sonic that was the hero. Although Sonic was the one who did the hero stuff most of the time, he rarely went completely solo anymore. His friends were heroes too, more or less. They'd just had a break from kicking Eggman's butt a few days ago.

But every hero has a weakness. And Sonic's just happened to be water.

Despite Sonic's fear of water, Amy and Tails insisted that he come on this cruise. It was a vacation, after all, and Amy suggested that he might even enjoy it. Sonic strongly disagreed.

Either way, he found himself standing on the dock preparing to board what he considered a disguised death sentence.

"Look, I would love to join you two, but . . . well . . . I just remembered something very, VERY important that I have to do. It can't wait."

"Oh no, you don't!" Tails said, grabbing Sonic's arm as he turned to run. "You are going with us."

As they neared the boat, Sonic's nerves didn't settle. He felt more and more on edge by the second.

"Come on, Sonic. It's time to board the ship."

Suddenly, Sonic made a decision that he was NOT getting on that boat. He began struggling, holding on to anything that he could as Amy pulled him away.

Unfortunately, both Amy and Tails had decided that Sonic WAS going on the boat and together they pulled him in.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO..." Sonic yelled, protested, and clawed at everything that he could to prevent boarding the ship, and even though after a while Tails gave up, having sympathy for his best friend, Sonic would have no sympathy from Amy Rose. She pulled harder than he did, but that might have been due to the fact that she had hold of his legs.

Eventually, she had pulled him up the plank and onto the ship. And just in time too. Right after that, the dock crew pulled away the boarding ramps. The ship made a "TOOT TOOT" sound, and they were off.

"NO!" Sonic clutched the side of the ship and stared out at the dock.

Cruises don't move very fast, so he thought he could jump off, back to land. But the thought had no sooner formed in his head, than Amy had jumped back onto his legs, and she refused to let go until they were so far away from the dock that there was no way Sonic could jump all the way to land. If he had jumped, he would've landed in the ocean first.

"No..." Sonic slumped against the side of the ship. Worst. Vacation. Ever.

Then he whirled around to face his friends and glared. Mostly at Amy, but also at Tails.

He put on his best "how-could-you-Tails" face.

"Sorry, Sonic, but it's for your own good," Tails said, trying not to laugh at his friend's facial expression.

Sonic's expression changed to a "what-are-you-crazy-there's-no-way-this-can-be-goo d-for-me-you-should-know-me-better-than-that" face.

"You need a break, Sonic. We all do," Tails said, resuming a normal, serious expression.

Amy interrupted, "Sonic, if you don't just chill for a few days, you'll crack under the pressure. And you obviously can't stay still on land. There are too many bad guys on land. So, we're taking you out to sea."

_I'm not cracking under the pressure_, Sonic thought. _I'm cracking because of all this stupid water._

Sonic didn't say anything though. He just tried to put on his "I-hate-you-guys" face. Which wasn't easy, because Sonic didn't actually hate anybody. Not even Eggman.

While Sonic was cracking from his fear of water, Knuckles cracked up.

That was the last straw. "SHUT UP!" he yelled.

Knuckles stifled his laugh for a few seconds, in the time it took for Sonic to angrily stomp his way below deck, and for Tails and Amy to look disapprovingly at Knuckles.

* * *

**A/N: So what did you think? Like? Then review! Didn't like? Also review! All I request is that you keep your comments kind and constructive. More will come soon. Thank you!**

**bearvalley3365: Thanks. Sorry, no plans for adding any gorillas or pandas. This story is already finished-I just have yet to post the rest.**

**shippotang: Yeah, that's kind of where I got the idea. That's my favorite episode-I've watched it several times over just to watch Sonic make funny faces. :D**


	2. Chapter 2: No fun

_bearvalley3365: Thank you!_

_shippo fox: Yep! Throwing up is mildly funny...although it's no fun if you're the person with the upset stomach._

**Characters belong to SEGA.**

**Chapter 2: No fun**

The next day on the ship was what Sonic liked to call "no fun". He got seasick really fast and couldn't relax to save his life!

Worse were the little things that Amy "forgot" to tell him. Little things like it was a weeklong cruise and it had a surprising lack of chilidogs. Thanks Amy.

So at lunchtime, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles agreed that they needed to get Sonic to do something on the ship.

Amy knocked on the door of his room. "Sonic . . ."

"Go away."

"Do you want to come out and have a picnic on the deck with us?"

"No."

"What about a game of ping-pong? Two versus two, Tails and you versus Knuckles and me."

"No."

"What about a massage? You love those! And what better way to relax?"

"Nope."

"Sonic, you can't stay in your room this whole vacation!"

"I beg to differ."

"SONIC!"

"I'm staying here, and I'm not leaving."

"What's the point of going on a vacation if you aren't going to enjoy it?"

"What's the point of taking a vacation over WATER!"

"FINE! Go ahead and stay in there."

"Thank you."

Amy grumbled, "All right, that's it! If you don't come out in ten seconds, I'm going to break the door down with my hammer! One . . . two . . . three . . ."

"Very funny, Amy, but you wouldn't break the door down."

"Four . . . five . . ."

"You're joking, right?"

"Six . . . seven . . . eight . . ."

"RIGHT?!"

"Nine . . ."

"Amy, wait!" Sonic opened the door. "Fine, I'll . . . take a look around."

Amy put down her hammer, relieved that she didn't have to actually hit him, which probably would have made him even more disagreeable.

She was prepared to walk with him down the hall with the others, maybe hold hands with him, but she didn't even have the chance. Sonic was already speeding his way down the hall. The trio of friends had just walked up on top of the deck, when Sonic came tearing his way back below deck. Amy angrily rushed back to Sonic's room, where she found the door locked shut.

"SONIC! You said you would come out!"

"No, I didn't. I said I would take a look. No fun."

"How would you have seen anything?! You were running around 400 miles an hour!"

No reply.

Amy sulked outside Sonic's door while Tails and Knuckles came down.

Tails looked at her.

"YOU try reasoning with him! I'm done! Stupid, selfish, stubborn..."

Tails sighed as he walked up to the door. "Sonic..."

"I said, go away."

"Come on, Sonic."

"No."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"No."

A loud rumble could be heard from the interior of the room. "SHUT UP!"

All three of them grinned. Sonic really was a bad liar.

Tails leaned against the door again. "Was that directed at me, or...?"

"No, I..."

Tails nudged Amy. She handed him a bag of chips, struggling to contain her laughter.

Tails crinkled the bag. "Mmm, are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Yes..."

"Okay then, suit yourself." He took a chip out of the bag and munched very loudly on it. "Mmm, these chips are good...I was going to give them to you, but since you're not hungry..." Stifling a laugh, he handed the bag to Amy. "Hey, Amy, do you want some?"

She had to smother her giggle before she responded with, "Sure, Tails! Do you want some, Knuckles? There's plenty to go around..."

Loud munching.

They just about burst out laughing when Sonic finally opened the door.

"FINE. I'll come out, but just for lunch!"

* * *

They sat down in the café, Amy and Tails and Knuckles taking trays of things back to the table while Sonic sat moodily in his chair.

Everyone was munching happily on the food, except for Sonic, who was just picking at his sandwich.

Amy picked up the sandwich. "Come on, Sonic. Your stomach even admitted it; you're hungry. You're just being stubborn."

He looked away.

"Come on. Here comes the plane..."

He just pressed his lips even more tightly together.

"Gee, what a wet blanket," Knuckles said, popping a grape into his mouth.

"Shut up," Sonic mumbled, glaring at the empty plate.

"What was that? I didn't hear you. Speak up!"

Sonic refocused his glare onto Knuckles. "I TOLD YOU, SHUT-"

Tails seized his opportunity, snatching the sandwich from Amy and shoving it into Sonic's open mouth.

Sonic froze, stunned. He began to chew slowly on the sandwich. It was pretty good.

He quickly finished it and took another. And another. And another. Soon, he was just shoveling them down his throat. He hadn't eaten anything since whatever he'd eaten yesterday at breakfast. That, and tap water.

Everyone burst out laughing.

"Careful, Sonic, don't eat too many! You might throw up!" Amy managed, but it was doubtful that Sonic heard her. She could barely get it out over her laughs.

Suddenly, Sonic stopped eating. He looked up, his face turned green, and he rushed to the side of the deck, clutching his stomach.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, looking worried.

Sonic's body gave a heave, and then came the sound of puking.

"So much for that warning. That's disgusting," Amy said, while Knuckles fell out of his chair in fits of laughter.

**A/N: Please review and tell me what you thought!**


	3. Chapter 3: Enter the Pirates

**Sonic and his friends belong to SEGA. The pirates belong to us.**

**Chapter 3: Enter the Pirates**

Sonic had never believed one could literally die of boredom until he had been in his room on a cruise over WATER for _THREE WHOLE DAYS_ all because of his "friend" Amy. The only time he came out was for meals, and even then, Sonic would stand as far from every side of the boat as possible.

Each day felt longer than the one before and Sonic became thoroughly convinced that if the water didn't kill him, boredom would.

Up on deck, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles were enjoying a fantastic vacation. They each got massages, played games, ate their favorite foods and were, all in all, having a great time.

Still, Amy couldn't get past the fact the Sonic wasn't even trying to enjoy himself. She had tried everything to get him on deck: scolding, threatening, tempting, pushing, shoving, etc. But nothing, NOTHING was going to get Sonic out of his room.

"Tails," Amy said as she looked out across the waves.

"Mmm-hm?"

"I'm worried about Sonic. He can't stay in a room all day. He needs to run. Besides, he isn't himself."

"Amy, Sonic is afraid of water, of course he's not himself!"

"I know, I'm just worried, that's all. Sonic never goes a day without running, but now he's in his room constantly. I wish they had some chilidogs here. That would get Sonic out of his room, don't you think, Tails? Tails? Tails?!"

Tails pointed out to the waves, "Look. I think I see a ship."

"Tails, we're on the ocean, of course you see another ship!"

"But with black sails?"

Amy looked out at the boat. Tails was right; the sails were as black as night. Worst of all, it was headed straight towards them.

"What on Mobius is that?" Amy asked, completely mortified by the black sails.

"They're-"

"Pirates," Knuckles interrupted. Tails and Amy looked at him in surprise.

"What? Living on an island floating in the sky for most of your life doesn't mean you don't know some things." Knuckles looked seriously out at the boat.

"This is bad."

* * *

Sonic, on the other hand, was sitting below deck and had no idea that there were pirates. He was, like he had been for the past three days, sitting in his room with the curtains pulled tightly over the window, his back to the window, the light on. He was sitting on the bed, hugging his legs and rocking back and forth. He looked like a prisoner who was awaiting a death sentence, or one that was about to go insane.

"Only four more days, Sonic, only four more days," he mumbled to himself over and over again. His legs were twitching; he hadn't stretched his legs for a long time. He rocked so hard that he fell off the bed.

"Oh, who am I kidding? I'm going to die..." he moaned, lying on the floor. He really wasn't himself. If you went from running around in the open air on solid land most of your day to shutting yourself up in a small cruise cabin, not seeing the sunlight for the whole day, surrounded by your worst fear, you wouldn't be yourself either.

A loud banging came from the outside. "Sonic!"

Not even bothering to get up, Sonic mumbled, "Tails, I told you to go away..."

"No, Sonic, this is serious! There's trouble up on the deck!" the voice called urgently.

"Tails, if this is some kind of trick to get me out of my room again..."

"No! For real! There are bad guys!"

"What?" Suddenly alert, Sonic uncurled from his ball and picked himself up off the ground. He opened the door to find a scared-looking Tails standing outside. "What bad guys?"

"Up on the deck! Pirates! They're starting to come on to the deck, and they're attacking the ship!"

Sonic put on his "are-you-serious" face. "You're not kidding? This sounds too stereotypical..."

Tails shook his head, frustrated that Sonic didn't really believe him. "If you don't believe me, go up for yourself!"

Without another word, Sonic rushed off, up to the deck, leaving Tails still standing at the door.

Sonic had expected to find a pirate ship sailing close by and the whole crew looking out over the side of the boat at it, or at least something like that.

That wasn't what he saw. The whole deck was covered in a mass of screaming people, all trying to get away from the pirates that were ALREADY ON BOARD! This was nothing like what you expect in normal pirate warfare, where everyone has swords and is battling across the deck. It was more of a pirates-totally-defeating-helpless-tourists scenario.

The passengers ran across the deck, mostly screaming and trying not to get hit by other wailing, panicking tourists or by the pirates. Sonic spotted Amy and Knuckles. They were both trying to fight off pirates at the other end of the ship. Amy had her hammer and was swinging it back and forth menacingly, daring anyone to face her. Knuckles, at a lack for anything better, had found a broomstick as his weapon (which was promptly split in half by a nearby pirate).

Tails came up on deck. "Told you."

"This is awful!"

"Yeah, I know."

"What do we do!?"

"I don't know! My plan was to get you!"

"I don't know what to do!"

"You fight Eggman all the time!"

"This isn't Eggman! This is a band of pirates!"

"What's the difference? They're still bad guys!"

"They fight on WATER! I don't do WATER!"

"We have to do something!"

Sonic thought for a minute. "I guess we just try and fight as many as possible." Sonic watched as one of the crewmembers ran past with a pirate on his tail. "…Seeing as the crew will be absolutely useless."

"Good luck," Tails said before charging into the mayhem.

"I hate this vacation," muttered Sonic as he followed Tails.

* * *

The "plan" worked...for the first few minutes. But after a while, Sonic realized that the pirates were just going to keep getting up again. And the tourists were more of a nuisance than anything. The pirates had the advantage because while Sonic was trying to hit the pirates while avoiding the tourists, the pirates didn't care who got hurt in the process. Sonic wasn't much of a person for plans. He usually just ad libbed. But this wasn't working, so a plan was in order.

Amid the ruckus, Sonic, after a few minutes, finally managed to get the group together.

"Okay, team. This is not working. They are kicking our butts."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Amy asked. Everyone looked at Sonic.

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking you guys!"

Knuckles spoke up. "We could just smash them down."

"In case you haven't noticed, Knucklehead, that's what we _have_ been doing. And they just keep getting up again."

"We could set a trap," said Tails.

"That's a good idea. Get them all in one place," Knuckles said. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, but what if a tourist sets it off? Or Sonic, since he's always running around?" Amy interrupted.

Sonic frowned. "I hate to admit it, but Amy's right. We have to get the tourists out of here, before the pirates sink this thing."

"So, get the tourists off the boat?" Tails asked.

"Yep. You and Amy guide them to the lifeboats. Knuckles and I will try to hold off the pirates so they don't try to escape with them."

"What else?"

"Uhh..." Sonic was stumped. He usually didn't think things through that far when fighting. "That's it for now. We think of something else later."

Surprisingly, everyone agreed. Except for Amy. She was still happily dazed from Sonic saying she was right.

"If there are no other questions, then let's go!" They all dashed off in different directions, Tails pulling Amy by her wrist.

* * *

"It's okay, just get on the boat! Quickly! Go go go!"

It took quite a lot of calming people down, shouting, and pushing, but Tails and Amy managed to get at least some of the tourists in the general area of the lifeboats.

"Don't they have some kind of procedure for this type of thing? One that doesn't involve everyone screaming and running around?" Amy shouted to Tails.

"I would think so, but I guess they weren't prepared for _pirates_ to come! They only _supposedly_ exist in the stories!"

"Well, they certainly exist now!" Amy said, exasperated. These tourists were acting like startled cattle, and it was frustrating. "I hope Sonic's okay..."

Meanwhile, unlike Amy, Sonic was too busy to be worrying about anything. He ran up to the top of the crow's nest.

"Hey, slow-mo's, over here!" Sonic shouted to the pirates, making funny faces at them. "Nyah nyah nyah-nyah nyah, you can't catch meeeee!"

The pirates in the nearby area looked up and growled. "Making funny faces at us, are ye?" one of them shouted at him.

"Yeah, that's right!" Sonic pulled another stupid face at them.

"Okay then..." The pirates put their cutlasses in between their teeth and shimmied up the mast. Within a minute, they were right below him.

"Umm, okay..." Sonic panicked a bit. He hadn't thought they would have been that fast. But he kept his cool and taunted them again. "But you still can't catch me!" He looked around for some kind of escape plan. He locked his eyes on a rope with a weight on the end. Perfect.

The pirate at the top of the mast climbed into the crow's nest and swung his sword in Sonic's direction. Sonic, with his famed lightning-fast reflexes, dodged the attack, and the pirate cut the rope.

"Thanks!" Sonic shouted at the pirate, using the rope as a swing, smirking at him. The pirates growled at him again.

He swung over the deck. He spotted Knuckles, fighting off a small group of pirates. "Hey, Knuckles, did the idea that your pointy fists work better than a broomstick finally get through that blockhead of yours?"

"Shut up, Sonic, I'm a little busy!" Knuckles shouted back, throwing a punch straight into the jaw of a pirate.

Sonic swung farther over the deck and saw Tails and Amy still trying to get the tourists off the ship. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Sonic!" They both waved at him.

Sonic swung over to the front of the ship, higher up than the rest of the deck. Surveying the fight again, he grinned. This was actually the most fun that he'd had on this vacation so far. It was great to be moving again.

"YAAAAHHHHOOOOOO!"

* * *

This newfound courage gave Sonic a boost of pure adrenaline. Amy, in the midst of hassling passengers, couldn't help but smile at Sonic, the REAL Sonic.

But just as everything seemed to be headed in the right direction, things began to turn south VERY quickly.

The first problem was that Amy and Tails ran out of lifeboats on one side of the ship. Thus, they would have to get all the passengers through the battle and over to the other side. Not good.

Sonic and Knuckles wouldn't admit it, but they were both running on adrenaline and nothing else. They were tired, so tired that if the adrenaline wasn't driving them on they would already have been taken.

The first few lifeboats had been rescued by various ships and helicopters, but nobody on the mainland knew where they were coming from. The escaped passengers were too freaked out and stressed to talk about anything, so any hope of help arriving had vanished. It was just the pirates and our heroes, battling it out in the middle of the ocean.

Tails and Amy began to panic. What were they going to do? They decided to take small groups of passengers across to the boats, which worked pretty well, but was slow-going.

Sonic and Knuckles were beginning to panic, too. Well, Knuckles was. Sonic was having the time of his life. This was what he did best, but he did have to admit, he was getting tired. And for a speedy, blue hedgehog that can run for thousands of miles at hundreds of miles an hour, that was saying something.

Quite a while later, all the passengers had been evacuated, so Amy and Tails could join the fight. And a lucky thing too. Sonic and Knuckles were running at their wits' end. Sonic was dodging the pirates' attacks quite easily, but he couldn't do this forever. The pirates kept popping up everywhere. It seemed that every time one went down, another one would come up from below the deck, seeming to glow with energy…

_Below the deck… They had some source of energy below the deck..._

The realization hit him like a pile of bricks. If he could get to the source of energy, and shut it down, it would make things a whole lot easier…_I gotta tell Tails…_

Unfortunately, this realization caused him to lose track of what he was doing, which gave the pirate that he was fighting a chance to smack him really hard in the face with the side of his cutlass.

Sonic flew across the deck, smacking his head right into the other side, breaking a bunch of crates in the process. He now had a huge lump on his forehead, as well as a long slash on the side of his face from the pirate's cutlass.

"Well, this is just great," he said to himself, struggling to get up as the pirate smugly came forward.

* * *

Across the deck, Amy was busy battling another pirate, but she wasn't too occupied to not notice Sonic being smacked in the face. Her Sonic. Being smacked. In the face. By a pirate.

She was filled with rage. How dare they hurt him? She crashed her hammer down on her opponent's head with such force that it was an instant knockout. "Sonic!" she called. She saw the pirate stalk up to Sonic, who was lying somewhat helplessly in a pile of smashed crates. "No!"

"Any last words?" The pirate flashed his mean, crooked smile at Sonic.

"I-" Sonic stammered, trying to think of something clever, like he usually did when stuck in situations like these.

"I've got some words for you, buddy! Get away from my Sonic!" A flash of pink and red, and then the pirate was down, out cold.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" Amy rushed over to Sonic, helping him to his feet.

"I'm fine, Amy. Thanks for the save," Sonic said.

Amy frowned, looking at Sonic's bleeding face. "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Amy, don't worry about me. Gotta go," Sonic replied, dashing away. "I think I know a way we can stop these guys!"

"Okay!" Amy called back. "Be careful!"

She sighed. He looked so dreamy and heroic when he ran like that…

"Tails!" Sonic called, screeching to a halt.

Tails hit another pirate over the head with his wrench, knocking him out. "What is it, Sonic?"

"I think I know a way to stop the pirates!"

"Really?" Tails looked hopefully at Sonic. Any plan was better than no plan.

"Yeah! So, you know how we've been beating them down, but each time, another one just comes up from below the deck, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Have you noticed how they seem to be glowing with some sort of energy?"

Tails thought for a minute. "Yeah, they do! Is there some kind of source of energy down there?"

"That's what I think. Now, I'm going to try getting down there, to shut it down. Then we'll be able to take them down! Can you cover for me?"

"Well, I'll certainly try!"

"Thanks, buddy!" Sonic ran off again, this time in the direction of the pirate ship.

Tails watched him run off. He certainly hoped this would work…

For whatever reason, Sonic was easily able to sneak onto the pirate ship without much notice. The pirates were too busy running around, fighting his friends on the cruise deck.

_Perfect,_ he thought. After letting another group of newly refreshed pirates past him, he snuck beneath the deck. He ran down the hallway, and turned into another room. _Now I just need to find where they keep their-_

"Whoa," he said aloud. This was totally not what he had expected.

Unlike all of the other rooms, this room, in the very middle of the ship, was all white and high-tech inside. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the dank, dirty, rooms.

The now-vacant room had multiple upright pods, each one able to fit a single person. _So this was how they got their energy. There must be something powering it… _He turned his head around, looking for it. _Gotta be here some-_

There it was. At first glance, you wouldn't notice it, thinking that it was part of the wall. But after spending hours, days, and years looking at powerful machinery, Sonic was getting to be quite good at finding powerhouses such as these. Having broken thousands upon thousands of Eggman's machines, Sonic knew that the easiest way to break in and find the source was to find a weakness.

_Wow, this is really complicated stuff. If I were a weakness in the shell of a powerhouse, where would I be?_

There. His eyes locked upon a small weakness in the hard shell. One that the ordinary person wouldn't have noticed, one that he could tell was the spot where it had been opened and closed by many hands and a few markings that signified that hooks had scraped the side as well.

He backed up. _A homing attack would work quite well at that spot…_ He ran in place for a minute to get his speed up, jumped, and attacked the spot. A loud sizzling noise issued from the machine, blowing him across to the other end of the room.

"Well, that could've gone a whole lot better," Sonic commented. "That really burns." Of course, there had to have been some kind of defense to the door, one that the pirates could get past safely that Sonic couldn't. "Maybe I should've let Tails handle this…" He turned his head to the side. But his attack had worked all the same. The door, all banged up and burned, was lying next to him. "Now that the door's opened, it shouldn't be too hard to—"

His face fell when he saw that there were a lot of humming, electrical wires inside. "Couldn't have made this easy, could ya?" The source of power was inside, but how to get in? If he touched the wires the wrong way, he'd electrocute himself. "I _really _should've asked Tails to come along."

He gingerly moved the first wire out of the way. And a second. And a third. He realized that these wires were all wide. The ones that seemed to sizzle with energy were the thin ones. Unfortunately, there were a lot of those. He picked his way through the wires like trying to pick a rose from a bush of spiny thorns. Eventually, he got to the middle. "Whoa," he said again.

The source of energy was a Chaos Emerald.

"How the heck did they get a hold of one of these?" he murmured. The Chaos Emeralds always disappeared right after using them, and he had used all seven of them just a few days ago, when he blew Eggman's place sky-high. Sometimes they turned up in funny places, but he never could've expected it to be on a pirate ship.

"There's a first time for everything, I guess," he said. The Emerald was attached to several thin wires. He noticed a small switch on the side next to it. "Wonder what happens when I do this?" he said, flicking the switch.

The machine's humming slowed. Sonic touched one of the wires just to be safe. It was still pulsating with energy, but not enough to electrocute him. He yanked the wires off of the emerald and pulled his hand quickly out of the machine. The machine stopped whirring entirely, and the whole room got darker, traditional lantern lighting kicking in. "Gotcha," Sonic whispered, holding the green gem in his hand.

"And I've got you," a voice whispered from behind him.

Sonic slowly turned around. He was face to face with the pirate captain.

* * *

**A/N: Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4: Turning the Tide

_A/N: All right, chapter four! Thanks to all of you who favorited, followed, and reviewed!_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Turning the Tide**

The pirate captain, a man of horrid halves with a patch eye and a hook for one hand, certainly wasted no time getting to the point. "Taking my emerald, are ye?" he murmured, looking like a snake ready to catch its prey.

"Who said it's yours?" Sonic said. He had a feeling it was a bad idea to say it, since the pirate captain had him cornered, and he was armed. Sonic, you could say, was unarmed, since he had no way to run to get up to speed in order to spindash him, and if he tried, he would surely be sliced to pieces, by the looks of that wicked sharp sword.

"I did," the pirate captain continued, moving his sword somewhat restlessly, his good eye trained on Sonic, as if trying to decide how he wanted to slice him up. "And rats like you have no business in taking it."

"Well," Sonic said, trying to buy himself enough time to find a way to get out there, "actually, it could very well be my business. You're a pirate, right? So you steal things?" He scanned the room for something useful.

"Of course I am! I am the greatest pirate that ever sailed the seven Mobian seas, Black Eye! I've stolen treasures that have made me rich beyond yer wildest dreams! What are ye, stupid?"

Sonic stiffened slightly at the pirate calling him stupid, but then he thought of a good way to buy himself time. "No-I mean, perhaps, but you'll have to excuse me for that. I know precious little about pirates, you see, because I live on the mainland, far away from anything that might tell me about you…" The statement wasn't a lie. Sonic liked to run along the coast, and he heard stories here and there, but unless he was flying in the Tornado over it with Tails, that was about as close as he ever really got to the ocean. And to pirates.

"Hmph," Black Eye said. "A landlubber, eh?"

Sonic had no idea what that was supposed to mean. It sounded somewhat familiar, from the stories, but he said nothing.

"Well, ye'll have no chance of defeating my men, then. They're the trustiest crew that ever sailed. We've been through a lot together. We've fought _blah blah blah blah blah _and_ blah blah _treasure_ blah blah…"_

Well, that's what Sonic heard. He didn't believe any of this nonsense. They were just stories, too ridiculous to have been without some degree of exaggeration. Apparently, these pirates had been told of these "previous exploits" and believed them. And they probably had bad memories too, what with all the whiskey and rum they drank. Sonic was happy, quite frankly, to be a "landlubber". Whatever that was. He just tried his best to look mildly interested while really looking for an escape.

The lanterns could be removed. Sonic knew that traditional lanterns were lit with oil. If he smashed them, then…

"Hey, are ye even listening?" Black Eye barked. Sonic jerked his attention back to the angry bearded pirate.

"What? Um, yeah, of course I've been listening!"

"Arr, yer lyin'! I can tell!"

"No! I was listening to the whole thing!"

While talking to the pirate, he raised his hands in his defense. He backed up into the now-defunct machine. It fell to the ground with a great crash, but not before it had knocked over three lanterns, shattering them.

"Whoops! How clumsy of me!" Sonic said, trying not to smirk as the fire spread to the floor of the room.

"Arrgh, you clumsy landlubber! My boots!" Black Eye turned to his boot and struggled to stamp out the fire already licking at his feet. "You're going to pay for—" He turned to look at Sonic. Well, at least where he should have been.

"Hey, over here!" Sonic called.

Black Eye whirled around. "You…How did ye get over there so quickly?!"

Sonic had taken his opportunity with Black Eye's distraction to escape to the doorway of the room. He teasingly tossed the Chaos Emerald up and down in his palm. "Since you're a pirate, I'll cut you some slack, since you might not have heard of me. On land, I'm known as Sonic, the fastest thing alive. If you want _this_—" He caught the emerald and waved it at Black Eye. "-you'll have to catch me first. See ya!" He dashed away.

Black Eye just stared after him for a minute. He had seen many things, but never, in any of his travels, or any of his ancestors', had he heard of such a crazy thing as this "Sonic".

"Oh, yeah, and one thing I forgot…" Sonic was already back, poking his head back into the doorway. He smirked at the pirate. "I'm a hedgehog, not a rat."

The nasty, bearded pirate growled at him, thoroughly aggravated by his adversary's cheekiness. How dare he trick him like that? How dare he say things like that to _The Great Black Eye_? His shock evaporated, and he quickly gave chase to the evasive blue blur.

"Oh, come on, you'll have to do better than that!" Sonic called behind him, speeding back along the corridor. His tiredness had somehow evaporated, now that he had someone on his tail, the extra adrenaline pumping through him. He had a feeling he was going to regret it later, but for now, he didn't care. Now there was a Chaos Emerald on the line.

He skidded onto the pirate ship deck, turning so quickly that Black Eye nearly ran into the mast of his own ship. "Tails! Tails!" Sonic called, still running, climbing back onto the cruise ship deck.

"Sonic, what is it?" Tails called back, flying over from the chaotic battle going on around them.

"Look what I got!" Sonic said, waving the green Chaos Emerald.

"What?! How did they get one of these?!" Tails exclaimed, taking the gem from Sonic, turning it over in his hands.

"That's what I asked. I have no clue, but it was powering their health generator."

"Their WHAT?!"

"They had these pods in a white, high-tech room below the deck of the ship. My guess is that the tired pirates would simply step into it, and the energy of the Chaos Emerald was converted into energy for them to absorb, so they felt better."

"Whoa! Can you show me?" Tails looked excitedly at Sonic. If it was everything Sonic said it was, it would be amazing and solve a lot of problems! He wanted to take a closer look at it to see if he could build replicas.

"Uh, not really…" Sonic nervously looked away from Tails.

"Why?"

"Because…I kind of…sort of…busted it up to get the emerald out."

Tails looked somewhat disappointed. "Well, never mind, I might be able to salvage it later…"

Sonic looked even more nervous. "And I set the room on fire."

"You did WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that the emerald was powering it, so I just thought busting it up would stop it…"

Tails shook his head and sighed. "At least they can't use it either, right?"

"Yeah, that's good for us!" Sonic cheered up, knowing that Tails wasn't entirely disappointed in him. He just had that thought, when he heard a dreadful voice shouting at him.

"There ye are, ye miserable blue rat!"

* * *

Tails and Sonic both whirled around to see where the sound of the voice was coming from. "Sonic, who's that?" Tails said, taking his turn to be nervous.

"Oh, just a guy I ran into while taking the emerald. He happens to be called Black Eye, he's the captain of the ship…and he's kind of mad at me now." Sonic replied, somewhat nervous himself. Turning to Black Eye, he shouted, "Hey, Black Ear, long time no see. How's it going?"

"It's Black EYE, you horrid little landlubber! And ye'd better gimme my jewel back, before I take YOUR eye out!"

"How about I just keep it?" Sonic called back teasingly. "It's mine now." He whispered in Tails' ear, "Run. Now."

"Arrgh, no ye don't!" The pirate lunged at Sonic and Tails, but the two of them had scattered in two different directions.

"Cowards! Face me like men!" Black Eye screeched after them, immediately giving chase to Sonic, because Tails had already flown up far beyond his reach.

"Tails!" Sonic yelled, giving Tails just enough time to turn his head before throwing the emerald towards him. "Catch!"

The emerald soared gracefully in the air over Black Eye's head. The pirate made a quick snatch at it, but Tails was faster. Tails' reflexes weren't as fast as Sonic's, but after hanging out with the blue blur for many years of his life, he had learned to be prepared for anything. He caught the spiraling gem easily and flew out of the way before Black Eye could blink his one good eye.

"No!" the pirate yelped, desperately making a snatch at Tails' legs in order to try pulling him down. Sonic jumped onto him, wrestling him to the ground.

"Yes!" Sonic said, knowing that Tails would keep a better eye on it than he could. He was probably taking it to a safe spot now.

The captain grunted. Taking advantage of the distraction, he pushed Sonic off and rolled on top of him instead. He looked down at Sonic, smiling his horrid black teeth. "Look who's stuck now, rodent. What do you have to say?"

Sonic struggled, but the pirate had his arms and legs pinned down. But, being Sonic, he was never one to look scared in the face of danger. He cracked a joke instead. "Ugh. Somebody needs a breath mint." He pulled his own pearly white smile back at the pirate. "When was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"What? What would a pirate like me need to brush his teeth for?" Black Eye growled.

"Maybe they should call you Black Teeth," Sonic replied. "But in answer to your question, well, it would make you look better for starters."

Black Eye just growled.

Continuing on, Sonic said, "Your crew wouldn't shy away when you talked or breathed."

"But pirates are meant to be feared!" Black Eye screamed, spraying spittle into Sonic's face.

"Sheesh, say it, don't spray it," Sonic mumbled. "But anyway…your teeth are stronger and more rooted in place when you take good care of them. So they won't fall out as easily when I do _this—_"

The one thing that the pirate hadn't bothered to pin down was Sonic's head. But this was all that he needed. After spindashing all those robots all these years, he had grown used to bashing things with his head. Which was exactly what he did.

Before Black Eye could even register what had happened, Sonic thrust his head straight into the forehead of the pirate with such force that they both ought to have been sent sprawling on the ground with major headaches, as well as knocking out a few teeth. And that was how it happened for Black Eye, crouching over Sonic with half his teeth missing and a possibly cracked skull. Sonic, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. Like Amy often shouted about when she was angry, Sonic had a truly hard head. And his teeth were still intact, to boot.

Black Eye's pain had caused him to instinctively bring his hands up to his face, freeing up Sonic's arms. Sonic went further, shoving Black Eye off of him, chucking him into a nearby crate. He got up, dusting himself off and surveying the broken pieces of the crate and the unconscious pirate. "And that is why, kids, you should always brush your teeth," he laughed to himself.

But now was not a time to be standing around, cracking jokes. He noticed a sword lying on the ground. "This might come in handy," he said, picking it up. And with that, he sped off again, in search of more pirates' skulls to crack.

* * *

The battle was going much better for Sonic's friends now that Sonic had gotten rid of the pirates' main advantage. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, now renewed by the victory Sonic had gained for them, fought their hardest in order to be rid of these pirates. The pirates fought harder than ever, but with no way of being replenished, the exhaustion hit them, and they dropped harder too.

"NOW we're getting somewhere!" said Knuckles as he bashed his fists into the pirates; their heads, their limbs, their guts. He fought with renewed vigor now that he knew they had possession of the emerald. Tails had showed it to him in not long after Sonic had taken it from the pirates' ship.

"Yeah, that's right!" Amy chimed in, swinging her hammer, knocking the pirates down like bowling pins, or dominoes. "That's what happens when you mess with—Eeep!" Someone had caught her from behind. She yelled, "Knuckles! Help!"

Unfortunately, any noise she made was muffled by the blasts of the cannon and the bloodthirsty yells of the pirates. Amy struggled against her captor, but with no avail, and soon, she was thrown into the darkness of oblivion…

* * *

Sonic sped his way around, taking as many pirates as possible. Now that he had a sword as well as his speed, he could take them down in close combat or long distance. The way that this was going, this battle would be over in a matter of minutes. He was just about to have a cheer of victory to himself when he was interrupted by a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Sonic whirled around to look where the scream had come from. It was coming from the direction of the pirate ship. He swept his eyes over the ship, turning his eyes to the mast, to the source of the noise…

It was Amy.

* * *

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Sonic looked in horror as Amy continued to screech at the top of her lungs. "SONIIIIIICCCCCC!"

She was hanging from the mast of the pirate ship, her hands and body bound with rope that was surely chafing her skin. Right next to her was Tails, his namesakes limp, his head lolling with a huge, ugly-looking lump on his forehead. Two particularly ugly-looking pirates, whom Sonic assumed to be the first and second mates, stood by, grinning in an abhorrent, grotesque way.

Sonic clenched his teeth. "Tails, Amy! Hang on!" He jumped onto the deck, glaring at the two pirates. "Let them go!"

"Arrgh, if ye want yer friends back, you'll have to give me that emerald, then," a voice came from behind him.

Sonic whirled to face the speaker.

"Set fire to me ship _and _me boots, eh? I won't let ye get away from it that easily, rat," Black Eye growled, looking more grotesque than ever with the new wound that Sonic had given him. In one hand, he carried his trusty sword.

On one side, Sonic was thinking, _Wow, this guy is tougher than he seems. Not even a bash to the skull could stop him!_ But on the other, he was thinking, _What's up with this guy and his boots?_ In the end, he just rolled his eyes. "I can get you some new boots and fix up your ship; that's easy. Just let my friends go."

Black Eye seemed to brighten at the prospect of new boots, but he just snarled. "I don't want yer help. I want that emerald."

Sonic shrugged. "Whatever."

"Not whatever. I've got your friends. If you don't give me that emerald, I'll take it."

Sonic shrugged again. "I don't have it."

The snarl on his face evaporated and turned into confusion. "What?"

"I don't have it. Knuckles has it; I gave it to Tails, and he gave it to Knuckles." Sonic nodded towards Knuckles.

Suddenly, two pirates popped out of nowhere and began wrestling Knuckles for the emerald.

Black Eye chuckled to himself. "I have yer friends, and my men are willing to do anything to take that emerald. Even if it means breaking your friend apart, bone by bone. Yeh might as well give up and give it to me."

Knuckles grunted while wrestling with the pirates. "Don't give it to him, Sonic!" he managed to get out.

Sonic looked around, at Amy looking desperately at him, Tails hanging limply beside her, at Knuckles being wrestled to the ground. "Fine…I'll give it to you."

Amy and Knuckles' faces fell. "No, Sonic…"

"If you take me on in a duel." He smirked, pulling out his borrowed sword, his friends' expressions changing to those of confusion. "You've got my friends. I've got the emerald. I don't know much about pirates, but if I'm not mistaken, they do like a good fight, right?"

"Arrgh, that we do," the captain responded.

"Okay then, I'll make you a deal." Sonic twirled the cutlass once in his hand. "If you win, you get the emerald back, you get whatever "booty" you can find on the cruise ship, and you can do what you want with me, so long as you let my friends go back to shore. I'll buy you new boots, fix your ship, whatever."

The greedy pirate's eyes lit up.

"And if I win, you let my friends go, I get to keep the emerald, and your crew has to fix up whatever damage you did to the cruise ship as soon as we get back to shore." He played with the sword again. "Since I don't own it. We fight until someone surrenders." He stuck his free hand out towards the pirate. "Deal?"

The pirate considered for a moment, but he agreed. "All right then. I agree to yer 'deal'". He put his sword in his scabbard, took Sonic's hand with his, and they shook on it.

"Lay off the red one," he said to the two wrestling with Knuckles. They did, rather reluctantly, and Knuckles got up, rubbing his sore arms and wrists. But as soon as he dusted himself off, they latched onto his hands and forced them behind his back, so that he was about as useful to Sonic's fight as cracked eggshells— which is to say, absolutely useless.

"No, Sonic, no!" Amy yelled. She sincerely thought that this was impossible, but Sonic had a higher chance of losing now that he was tired, and if Sonic lost, that meant the pirates got to do whatever they wanted to Sonic. She couldn't stand the thought of giving him up to the likes of them, no matter how minute the chances were.

"Shut up, girl!" Black Eye snarled at Amy. "This is between me and him. We shook on it, didn't we, Sonic?"

Amy looked beseechingly at Sonic. There was no way Sonic would actually fight this guy and give himself up like that, right?

Sonic didn't even look at her. He just stared into the pirate's face, green eyes fixated on the beady black one. "Bring it on, Black Eye."

* * *

_A/N: Reviews, please?_

_bearvalley3365: ...Surprises? Well, the whole story is already done, so I already know all the "surprises". XD_


	5. Chapter 5: Power Struggle

_A/N: Hey all! Thanks for checking out this story. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Power Struggle**

They just stood there for a second, looking at each other, eye to eye. Then they began to circle each other, slowly, like two wolves, trying to decide who was the dominant. Amy fell silent, as did every other living being on the ship that was still conscious. To Sonic, nothing existed but him and Black Eye.

Suddenly, they both struck out at the same time, their swords making a loud clashing noise as their holders clenched their teeth, trying to force the other back. Then, Sonic moved to strike again, but the pirate met his sword with another clash. And so it went on, clash after clash, going faster and faster, until their arms seemed a blur, slicing and whirling and dodging. They were stuck in a deadly dance, one where one misplaced step could result in a wound, or even death.

Knuckles wanted to jump into the fight. It wasn't that he thought that Sonic couldn't handle Black Eye; Knuckles always had a problem with Sonic getting all the glory. He didn't want to miss out on the "fun", so to speak. But as soon as he had the thought, his "guard" pirates grabbed onto his arms even harder. He snarled at them. "I'll take you on in a fight any day, Black Eye!"

"It's okay, Knuckles, I got this!" Sonic said, still locked in that vicious dance.

Knuckles grumbled, but the harder he tried to escape, the pirates locked their hands on him even tighter. _Sonic is so full of himself that he thinks I wanted to help him…_ Of course, that was not what Sonic was thinking at all, just Knuckles' jealousy talking.

They twisted their way across the deck, up the stairs, on the rail, close to the steering wheel, knocking into the steering wheel as they went. With every turn of the wheel, the ship twisted back and forth, rocking violently, the world turning in funny directions.

The pirate ship was still tied to the steady cruise ship, but anything that wasn't latched onto the deck or something else shifted with every rock of the boat. Amy, still tied to the mast, could do nothing but scream, the waves roughly kicking up sea spray into her face. The sea spray got up Tails' nose, waking him. "Ah! What's going on?"

He glanced across the deck. The last thing he remembered, he was fighting a small band of pirates on the cruise deck. It had been slightly breezy, and the waves were mostly calm. Now, as he opened his eyes, he took in the sight of the pirate ship rocking back and forth, and the waves kicked up more, as Sonic and the pirate captain staggered across the deck, knocking the steering wheel this way and that. Amy was hanging from the mast next to him, now screaming for dear life, and Knuckles was trying to dig his knuckles into the deck so he wouldn't be tossed about. Many other pirates, limp as ragdolls, slid across the fiery deck and plunged into the salty deep blue below.

"Sonic!" he yelled, watching helplessly as his best friend ducked, barely missing the Captain's sword.

"Give me the emerald!" Black Eye yelled, making another swing at Sonic's head.

Sonic laughed. "Do you really think I would just give it to you? Seriously?"

Tails writhed in frustration. Sonic was fighting the captain. Worse, Tails was tied up, from the mast! There had to be some way he could help! He looked across the deck, searching for anything he could use to free himself.

"Then you leave me no choice," Black Eye said with a grin, "but to kill you for it."

"You wish, Black Toe!" Sonic yelled. The captain lunged forward . . . into thin air where Sonic _used_ to be. "Hey, slowpoke!" Sonic called out from the other side of the ship. "Try to keep up!" Black Eye growled.

Amy glanced over at Tails. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," he answered.

Tails watched Black Eye and Sonic continue the fight.

* * *

Sonic ran past Black Eye for the hundredth time, another close call with death. "Get back here, you little rat!"

"Sure, just say please," Sonic answered, smiling. He was having fun, lots of fun. Black Eye reminded Sonic of Eggman, only with worse teeth and less limbs.

But he was tired—_really_ tired. Not "need-a-break" tired but "I-think-if-you-give-me-a-chance-I'll-go-into-a-co ma" tired. He had used up every bit of energy he had. Not even his adrenaline could fuel him much longer. But worst of all, the captain was beginning to realize it.

"I see you're gettin' tired."

Sonic snorted, "Who, me? I could do this all day! I'm just getting started!"

"If you give me back me emerald, I'll make sure yer work isn't TOO unpleasant."

Sonic scoffed, "Yeah, right, like I'd just hand it over. You're just afraid 'cause I'm gonna win!"

Black Eye faked to right before slicing out on the left. Sonic felt a flash of pain lurch through his arm. He let out a yelp. "Yer slowin' down, blue berry," the captain said. Amy let out a scream from up on the mast at the sight of Sonic, HER Sonic, with blood flowing from his arm.

He ran to the other end of the ship, taking the chance to check on the wound. It didn't look pretty. However, Sonic was used to scrapes and bruises, so for the moment, he ignored it.

The captain approached ominously, like a snake that knows it's cornered its prey. "You weak landlubber!"

Sonic could feel the fear creeping up in his throat. What if he really lost? Then what would Black Eye do to him? Would he keep his promise to let Amy, Tails, and Knuckles go? Sonic shoved the thoughts to the back of his head and lunged at the Captain, hitting his hook.

"You're slowing down, Black Hook. Are you getting tired? If you surrender, I'll try not to make you work TOO hard." Sonic ran to the front of the craft, trying to form some sort of plan.

Then a voice rang from the mast, "FIRE!"

* * *

"FIRE!" Tails cried out as flames began to travel from the pirate ship onto the cruise ship. The wind had picked up even more, causing the flames from the pirate craft to travel onto the attached cruise ship as well as moving faster across the pirate ship.

That was when Sonic made his fatal mistake. As he turned to look at the flames, Black Eye ran and hit Sonic with the butt of his sword across the back of his head. Sonic fell forward as the captain grabbed his sword.

"NO! SONIC!" Amy screamed. He stood up fast, shaking his head to clear the vapors. The captain swung, aiming for his neck, but Sonic kicked at his legs, knocking him off his feet. He took the opportunity to jump up and run once again to another part of the deck.

Tails watched the flames lick across the side of the boat and spread quickly. If he and Amy didn't get off the mast soon…he didn't want to consider that thought.

"Knuckles! HELP!" Tails yelled. Knuckles was holding on for dear life so as not to fall as the boat rocked and swayed. When he heard Tails, he stood up shakily, only to be stampeded be three pirates at once, pulling him to the ground. Tails decided he needed a new plan.

Suddenly, he had an idea. "Amy!" he screamed over the wind. "Start trying to swing toward me!"

"What?"

"I need you to try and swing towards me! I think I can get my hands out enough to untie your rope if you can get over to me!"

"I'll try!" she yelled back. Amy began swinging her head back and forth as Tails writhed to get his hand out enough to untie her. He grit his teeth and…he felt something in his glove. What the heck? Something pricked his palm, something large with many edges.

Before he could consider it more, he felt Amy bump into his side.

"Tails! Pay attention!" she yelled.

"Sorry." This time as she swung back over to him, Tails grabbed her rope and held fast. He began pulling at the knot blindly, praying for some kind of weakness in the rope. But a sailor had tied it—actually, a _pirate_ had tied it. The rope wouldn't be coming apart in a hurry.

He looked down to see the fire spreading closer to them, threatening to climb the mast.

It was obvious that he wouldn't have time to work with the knot—the flames were spreading far too quickly.

"Ouch," he cried out as he felt the pricking on his palm once again. Suddenly, everything clicked. Sonic had passed him the emerald. Tails had stowed it away in his glove and faked throwing it to Knuckles, making sure that the pirates couldn't find it. He had been knocked out, but they had not checked him for the emerald. He had woken up to find Sonic fighting Black Eye, but he didn't have the emerald. Tails looked desperately back down to Sonic who was still fighting the captain, possibly oblivious to where the gem even was! He prepared to call out to Sonic, but caught the words before they could escape. If the pirates knew where the emerald was, both Sonic and Tails would be dead and probably everybody else as well.

Most importantly, the emerald was sharp. He held firm to the emerald while pushing his glove off. In the process, he lost his grip on Amy. She swung away from him, yelling words he couldn't quite hear, and then began her movement back towards him. He grabbed hold of her rope again, more firmly this time.

Tails began working the gem under the rope. He was all too aware of the flames getting ever closer to them. Forcing himself to remain on task, he began running the sharp side of the emerald back and forth under the rope.

SNAP! The first part of the rope broke. Without thinking, Tails repeated the same task over again. After a few more times, Amy let out a yelp as she fell from the frayed pieces of rope onto the deck.

As she fell, Tails lost his grip of the emerald and watched helplessly as his only means of escape clattered onto the deck.

Amy was having no better luck than Tails. As she fell, she landed on top of the pirates who were on top of Knuckles. She smiled, trying not to panic. "Oops?" They jumped up, causing Amy to flee to another part of the ship.

"Wait! Amy, help me! I'm still stuck! AMY!" But she couldn't hear Tails. He wiggled and mentally slapped himself for letting the emerald slip from his fingers. Knuckles was unconscious due to the pirate pile-up he had just endured. He would be no help whatsoever.

Tails' eyes widened. The fire was nearing the mast, and more importantly, getting closer and closer to Knuckles.

* * *

Sonic saw the emerald hit the deck. How did Tails still have it? Either way, it didn't matter; Black Eye had seen it too.

Unfortunately, he was standing only twenty feet from the precious treasure while Sonic was across the ship. Even if he could reach the emerald first with his speed, the captain would probably catch him.

Sonic knew it was hopeless to try and stop Black Eye from reaching the gem…unless…

As the captain began charging after the emerald, Sonic made his move. He ran straight for the gem. But, instead of reaching for the emerald, Sonic picked up Amy's hammer, which had been left on the deck.

WHAM! Black Eye ran full force straight into the mad swing of Amy's hammer, not only knocking him out but the rest of his teeth as well.

With a smile and a bow to no one in particular, Sonic picked up the green emerald, making sure not to lose it again.

His victory was short-lasting as he had a chance to really look at his surroundings. The whole deck was bombarded with patches of flame. If they didn't get off quick, they were going to sink!

Amy ran up to him, holding out her palm. He dropped the hammer into Amy's hand and watched as she swung at the pirates who were chasing her.

"We have one lifeboat left!" Amy yelled over the crackling of the flames. "We need to put all the unconscious pirates into the boat so they don't die, but tie them up as well!"

Sonic nodded and began hauling the pirates over to the boat.

* * *

"SONIC! AMY!" Tails yelled for the hundredth time, but still they couldn't hear him. He was growing desperate. The flames were already beginning to inch their way up parts of the mast and Knuckles was still unconscious. The fire was getting far too close to him.

"Knuckles! WAKE UP!" Tails screamed, fully aware that it would do no help whatsoever. That was when Knuckles' glove caught fire. He woke with a start, ripping the glove off his hand and throwing it overboard.

Tails sighed with relief to see he was awake. He shrieked again when he saw where the fire had spread. It was taunting him, getting higher up on the mast. "Knuckles, HELP!"

This time, Knuckles did hear him. He looked up at Tails and instantly saw the situation. "Hold on! I'll be right there!" Knuckles called up, pulling on a new glove. He backed up, then ran towards the mast, jumping up onto it.

"What are you doing!?" Tails screamed, watching Knuckles climb on the flames. Even from his position, Tails could see how painful it was for him. He climbed with growing desperation, so fast that soon he was just above the flames. He reached out and grabbed hold of Tails' rope, furiously untying the knot. They fell back onto the deck.

"Thank you!" Tails said.

Knuckles nodded. "We need to help Amy and Sonic. It's time to get off this ship."

"Are you okay?" Tails asked, eyeing Knuckles' hands and wondering how badly they were burnt.

He smiled. "They don't call me Knuckles for nothing. Now come on!"

Amy and Sonic had loaded all the men onto the boat; now all that was left was to board onto it and get off the burning pirate ship.

They did this in record time, running across the deck and jumping into the lifeboat as if their very lives depended on it, which they kind of did.

They rowed hard, making sure to put a good distance between their boat and the two flaming crafts. But when they were far enough away, each one stopped rowing and rested silently, watching the ships burn off in the distance.

They were exhausted. Sonic was so tired that he didn't even have the energy to shy away from the water.

"Well," Knuckles said, "That was…interesting."

"That wasn't exactly the word I was thinking of," Tails put in, "but I guess interesting works too."

"Thanks for letting me borrow your hammer," Sonic said.

"Sure."

Another moment of silence.

Sonic smiled at Amy. "Just promise me something. Next time, I get to pick our vacation spot."

"Of course, Sonic." Amy returned the smile.

"Good." Sonic promptly slumped against the side of the lifeboat and fell asleep, about as dead to the world as the unconscious pirates next to him.

The others chuckled at the sight, although they knew he deserved the break more than any of them. "Way to pop up and save the day like that, Sonic," Tails murmured to the sleeping Sonic as he took the emerald back from him.

The green gem glinted in the sunlight, scattering little flecks of green light everywhere, and the three of them smiled. This may have not been the vacation they had wanted to have, but it was definitely worth the trouble for this emerald. Being one step ahead of Eggman was always helpful.

They spent the next few hours taking turns rowing, one of them rowing, one of them sleeping, and another just resting in case the rower needed help, with the exception of Sonic, whom they allowed to rest because he'd fought the most and slept the least on the entire trip. It was lucky that the lifeboat already had provisions stored in a small compartment; they were hungry after the fight. They watched the sun set, all the more beautiful because of their recent victory.

* * *

It was about eight in the evening before Sonic bothered to stir himself from his deep sleep; he probably would've slept longer, had his friends not been jumping up and down in the boat excitedly, shouting and waving their arms.

"What is it?!" Sonic shouted frantically to his friends, sitting up immediately, alarmed by their behavior.

"Our rescue!" Amy shouted, pointing behind him. Sonic stood up and looked behind him, and there, sailing very close to them, was a small boat.

"Oh!" he said, beginning to jump up and down too. "Hey, over here!"

The boat stopped, just a few yards away from them. It was a G.U.N. boat, and one of its occupants, a G.U.N. officer, ran out onto the deck. "Hey, it's Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends!" he said to no one in particular.

"I told you," another one called from inside the cabin. She drove the boat closer, so that it was easy to walk between the two vessels. The first G.U.N. officer and a few others helped Sonic and his friends onto the boat.

"Now, may I ask just what were you doing in the middle of the ocean like that in a lifeboat?" asked another female officer.

Amy volunteered to explain, and she did, giving a _very_ brief explanation that was just enough to explain the basics. Nobody felt up to explaining the whole thing.

"Interesting story you got there," another male officer, who seemed to be the captain, remarked. "We'll take you back right away; we need to be going back to land anyway. You look tired, so you don't have to explain it now. It'll take a few hours to get back. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable."

And they did, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles collapsing onto the luxurious seats, only Sonic standing at the nearest window. "Thanks," they all said.

After hooking the lifeboat with the pirates in it to the back of the boat (Amy having explained that they needed to bring them back for a suitable punishment for them), they shut the door and took off into the night.

Knuckles fell asleep very quickly, since he had been fighting the most after Sonic. Tails and Amy offered to stay awake to keep Sonic company, but he declined, and they, too, drifted off into a much-needed slumber.

Sonic was still tired, but he was too excited by the thought of returning home very soon to think of sleeping again. He walked out onto the deck, wind whipping his face, breathing the cold, night air into his lungs. _That was quite interesting, _he thought._ Amy takes us out for a vacation to escape fighting crime, yet we end up having an adventure anyway. _

He walked back inside to his sleeping friends and smiled. _I think it was better the way it turned out, even though the first part wasn't that good._

"Thanks for the vacation, Amy," he whispered in a low tone to her, despite the fact that he knew she wouldn't have heard him. "It was great."

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review!_

_bearvalley3365: Thank you, but not the kind that you are hoping for._


	6. Chapter 6Epilogue: Home Again

_A/N: At long last, I give you...the final chapter in _Pirates_!_

* * *

**Chapter 6/Epilogue: Home Again**

The sun was just beginning to come out over Station Square, but already there was a huge group of people standing at the dock.

A few hours ago, despite it being five in the morning, the captain of the G.U.N. boat had notified the mayor of their coming, with Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles on board. Despite the early hour, news travels fast when it comes to heroic deeds, and now, only two hours later, fans were lined up and down the coast and the dock, waiting for their heroes. They kept their eyes peeled for any sign of the boat, but it was hard to see through the morning fog.

Now that the sun was beginning to burn through the clouds, they could see a small vessel off in the distance, not too far from shore. A figure emerged from the cabin, standing proudly on the deck in a heroic position. The crowd went wild, certain it was their hero, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Naturally, they were surprised when they saw who it really was: Knuckles the Echidna.

A murmur went up in the crowd. What happened to Sonic?

No sooner had they asked the question than it had been answered; a blue blur came rushing up onto the deck. The crowds cheered for their hero, but he hardly noticed. He was not coming up to see his fans.

He was coming up because he was seasick.

* * *

Knuckles woke to the sound of plates and dishes clattering and the smell of eggs on the griddle.

An officer greeted him as she was coming up the stairs. "Ah, good morning, Knuckles. I was just about to tell you that breakfast was ready."

His stomach rumbled. "That's good; I'm hungry," he said with a slight chuckle.

Following the officer back down the stairs, he saw Tails and Amy sitting down at a table in the kitchen. "Hey, Knuckles, just in time! You have to try these eggs!" Tails called to him, waving and pointing to a bowl of said eggs.

"Mmm, smells good," he said, taking a plate of his own. He tried the eggs. They tasted as good as they smelled. "Has Sonic tried these?"

As if on cue, the said hedgehog raced up to the table. "Ooh, great, eggs!" he said, and began shoveling food into his mouth.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Feeling better, huh?"

Sonic stopped eating to look at Knuckles, as if just acknowledging his presence. "Oh, hi, Knuckles," he said, mouth still full of egg.

He rolled his eyes again, making Amy and Tails laugh.

Soon after, the crew joined them at the table. "Would now be a good time to explain fully what happened?" the captain asked.

And so, they did explain just about everything they had experienced on this adventure, from the pirates landing on the ship, to finding the Chaos Emerald, to Sonic's battle with Black Eye, each of them giving their own point of view.

They were about halfway through the battle with Black Eye when Knuckles stood up to announce, "I'm going to get some fresh air." Everyone nodded, and he took his leave up on deck.

He climbed the stairs back to the cabin and opened the door. Ah, fresh air. The cool morning mist felt good on his face, and he stepped out onto the deck to look out over the water.

It was foggy, and he could just barely make out Station Square's dock, off in the distance. He wondered if people were standing there now, waiting for them.

The sun was beginning to burn off some of the mist, and now he could see people standing there. They were waiting for somebody.

_I bet they're standing there waiting for Sonic,_ he thought. _Waiting for their "hero" to come up on deck and receive the glory._ He cast a glance around the deck. No Sonic yet. He was probably still down there, chowing down on those eggs.

_I don't think it will hurt if I get some of the attention first,_ the egotistical echidna thought. So he propped one foot on the rail, stood tall, and positioned himself in the most heroic position he could, smiling his most winning smile.

Then, as the mist cleared, he could hear cheering. _Yeah, I'm better than Sonic!_ They were cheering, cheering for him…

"Comin' through!" a voice cut through his daydream, and he caught a flash of blue tearing across the deck at breakneck speed. _So Sonic decided to show up for his fans after all…_

He wanted to shove Sonic back below deck for ruining his moment, until he saw the reason he had come up on deck.

He hadn't come up to steal Knuckles' glory. No, not at all. If anything, he was ruining his own glory, because this was probably one of the worst ways to present yourself to your fans.

Head bent over the rail, gripping it with his hands, face green: Sonic was seasick again, and it was not exactly a shining moment for him.

"Ohh…" He gave a lurch, and Knuckles grimaced at the sight.

"Sonic! How many times do I have to tell you to eat slowly when you're on a boat?!" Amy and Tails came running up on deck, accompanied by a few crewmembers. "Has being on a cruise ship for a _week_ taught you _nothing_?" Amy looked peeved at Sonic's apparent ignorance of the rules of seasickness.

"Like I said, Amy, I'm going to take a vacation somewhere else next time," Sonic replied weakly. He'd lifted his head, and Tails was rubbing his back with a gentle hand. "I won't have to deal with this."

She rolled her eyes at him and sighed, and Knuckles laughed.

"Shut up," he said, but it didn't have a very good impact, since he said it with a slight grin on his face and left out some of the vigor.

"Well, almost home, everybody!" the captain interrupted. "That'll be a good thing for you, Sonic. And I think you have some fans waiting for you, too."

Sonic looked up to see the crowd of people that had gathered on the dock. He waved a hand, then turned green again, needing to put his head back over the rail for a second round.

Tails frowned. "Maybe you should've waited until we got back to eat, Sonic." He rubbed Sonic's back again. "Come on, let's go below deck so you can lie down for a bit."

He pulled the seasick Sonic back below deck, a few officers following to help, leaving just Knuckles, Amy, and the captain on the deck. They soon followed suit. Only another fifteen minutes until they could be back on land.

* * *

As the minutes ticked by, both the people on the shore and Sonic were getting antsy. The former, so they could see the heroes; the latter, so he could go back to running on solid ground where he was comfortable, and not constantly wobbly over the uneven surface of the water. Even the mayor had shown up at that early hour to welcome them back.

The boat got closer and closer. Almost back to land. Almost there. After a while, Tails gave up trying to make Sonic lie down, because Sonic was almost squashing his face against the glass in anticipation.

Finally, after what seemed like several agonizing hours to Sonic (in reality, it was only a few minutes), the boat was docked onto the pier to the sounds of cheers from the crowd. The gangplank was lowered, and now, nothing was between Sonic and the land he loved so much.

Any seasickness he had been feeling was replaced with elation, and he rushed so quickly up onto deck that he, with his wobbly half-formed sealegs, tripped, and he went sprawling down the gangplank into the dirt. He didn't seem to notice any of the people that were looking at him; he didn't answer any questions, return any questioning looks. He just lay there happily in the dirt until the others came down the gangplank. They had to step around him to avoid stepping on him.

The mayor stepped forward, wondering to himself how Sonic could not be embarrassed at the spectacle of tripping down the gangplank like a drunken sailor. It seemed a bit awkward, talking down to Sonic's head like that, but he smiled and began, "Sonic the Hedgehog, let me be the first to say, welcome—"

Sonic suddenly jerked his head up. But he wasn't looking at the mayor; he was looking beyond the mayor.

"Um," the mayor continued awkwardly, turning around to see what Sonic was looking at. "What are you—"

Without even acknowledging the mayor, Sonic jumped up and ran to what he was looking at: a large rock.

Everyone's eyes, even those of his friends, were on Sonic. Why was he so interested in a rock?

Sonic didn't seem to notice the extra attention. He was too busy hugging the rock.

Quizzical expressions were on everyone's faces as he ran to another rock, and hugged it too. Then a tree, a lamppost, and the side of a building. He twirled in place, arms out to the side, for a minute, then dashed off without further explanation.

Everybody stared, dumbstruck by the strange behavior.

Knuckles was the first to recover. "Guess he's not seasick anymore."

The mayor regained his composure after that blunt statement and said, "Er…would you like to come into my office to explain?"

The three of them nodded, eager to get away from the awkward stares of their fans on the dock.

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

And so, our heroes (sans Sonic) walked into the mayor's office and proceeded to explain everything that had happened on the cruise ship, which is, actually, what you just heard about, dear reader. When they finished, they explained that the pirates were tied up in a lifeboat attached to the G.U.N. boat they had arrived on, and that they needed to be dealt with.

They were quite busy for the next few days after that.

Knuckles' hands healed quickly, and he soon went back to Angel Island, back to guarding the newly-acquired Chaos emerald and the Master Emerald, which, ironically, was also green, but much, much bigger.

Amy went to do some shopping with her reward money, since she wanted to replace the clothes she had lost due to the cruise wreck. She also got a massage, because fighting pirates and hanging from a mast can make you really stressed.

Under Tails' instruction (for he had a good nautical sense of direction), the wrecks of the pirate ship and the cruise ship were salvaged. The treasure that was stolen more recently was traced back to its rightful owners; however, since much of it was stolen generations ago, it was impossible to trace it back to its owners. This treasure was split up evenly and sent to the treasuries of all the nations of Mobius and to various organizations.

The pirate ship itself was turned into a floating museum for tourists and any other "landlubbers" to come see what pirates lived like. As tour guides…well, who would be better than the pirates themselves? Under strict supervision, the pirates reconstructed their pirate ship, and the top ranking ones told their tales of wonder to the viewers who came to listen.

The other pirates, after the pirate ship was reconstructed, built a new cruise ship (also under strict supervision), one much more seaworthy and beautiful than the one before, much of it due to Tails' unique redesigning. The passengers of the crashed cruise ship were each offered a chance to be on its maiden voyage, and it wasn't long before many other people bought tickets to be onboard too, although Tails, Amy, and Knuckles declined. It was called The Blue Fist, in honor of both Sonic and Knuckles. The two of them were supposed to break apple cider bottles on the ship to send it off, but as Sonic had still not returned, and they had no way of contacting him, Knuckles gladly broke his bottle for him.

And as for Sonic…

Despite their best efforts, nobody saw him nor was in contact with him for three weeks after their return, no doubt making up for lost time on land, running like the wind, as usual.

Tails returned to his workshop one day during that fourth week, and there he found the hero, crashed out on his couch, fast asleep. He smiled, leaving the hedgehog there. When Sonic woke the next morning, Amy and Knuckles had also shown up, and he told his friends of the many travels and adventures he had in the past weeks they had not seen him.

But I think we'll save those stories for another time, shall we?

**THE END**

* * *

_A/N: Many, many thanks to those of you who have stuck with this story, the first complete multi-chapter fic I have uploaded to FFN! Although I know I have improved much since writing this over a year ago, it makes me very happy to hear from readers, letting me know that old stories are not a waste!_

_I hope you all enjoyed this story-I had lots of fun writing it with my friend! Please leave a review, and I hope you will stick with me for my new stories!_

_-Blurry_


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